Blues – Running and Falling with Walter Trout – Blues for the Modern Daze

So yesterday afternoon we had a thundershower, but by the time I wanted to run the sun was out and the temperature had dropped appreciably. Oh, I should preface this by saying that the morning starting with my wife telling me that son two, Andrew was at Underwood Hospital in terrible pain! By mid-morining we knew that he was ok. It was a gallbladder attack and will require a one day surgery, but at this point the date is unknown! Anyway by 5:15 or so everything was calm so I went for a run, and everything was fine during the first 2.6 miles of the run. It was hot in the sun and cool in the shade and thankfully the toughest part of the run up Pancoat is in the shade. So I made it up Pacoast and down, up and down Harper and Cranberry and was approaching Bridgeboro road running on the sidewalk, when my right leg buckled slightly as it sometimes does causing me momentarily lose my balance. Only this time it was slightly more than momentarily and I knew I was going fall and sure enough my left hand and shoulder hit first and that sent my phone and iPod flying. Upon standing I looked around, no uneven sidewalk to blame for the fall. I brushed my self off’ looked at my slightly scraped and bloody, felt my already sore shoulder and took back off running all be it, somewhat slower. Prior to the fall I was slightly under 10 minute mile pace and at the 3 mile mark I was at 30:04 and the four at 40:17, so that I finished with a 10:0 pace and no major soreness. My knee hurt going up to take a shower but has been ok since and my shoulder is slightly more sore than normal, so all and all it could have been worse! But as I always say at least the music was good!!

So maybe it was appropriate that the soundtrack for the run was the new release by Walter TroutBlues for the Modern Daze. The album, Trout’s tweny first, is a true blues album and great followup to 2010’s Common Ground. Trout says this about his inspiration for the album:

“My main inspiration for this album was the country bluesman Blind Willie Johnson,” Trout explains. Johnson was an early blues innovator who recorded such timeless gospel informed blues numbers as “Soul of a Man” and “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” “His music is so beautiful, primal, direct and deeply spiritual that I wanted to feel it at my back when we were cutting these songs.”

The album debut at number 5 on the Billboard Blues Charts and has been a Pick of the Week for USA Today and iTunes No. 1. As usual Trout’s guitar and vocals are great and it seems to me that he’s getting better and better as a songwriter. There’s a few autobiographical songs like “Saw My Mama Cryin'” and “Recovery”. He says this about the later “I hope it might inspire people who are going through the same thing,” he says. “Recovery lasts forever.” He also has penned songs for this album commenting on a society where people are “Lonely” and relationship’s are virtual, climate change in “Pray for Rain” and the influence of money on our world in “Money Rules the World” . And as I was running I thought you know why I like Trout’s music, aside from the great guitar work, I can always understanding the lyrics! I think that it says that you may have a great album if the title track is track 10 on the album. So check it out!!!